Murdered student's murky past revealed

Murdered Sydney university student James Gao was due to face court on charges of kidnapping and assault the week before he was allegedly gunned down by two former police officers in a drug deal gone wrong.

The 20-year-old's murky past can be revealed now that former detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara have been charged with his murder.

A friend of Gao said they were in "absolute shock" after learning the University of Technology student may have been involved with drugs.

''A lot of his friends didn't know that he did drugs, we were really shocked about it,' the friend told the Sydney Morning Herald.

It can now be revealed that a week before Gao's murder the student appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court accused of kidnapping a young man with two accomplices at Carlton in Sydney's south.

The men allegedly forced their victim into a car and held him, demanding information about a relationship breakdown in January.